Online program to better manage pigs

Pork producers have a place to turn for advice and information in tough
economic times thanks to a joint project of the Illinois Pork Producers
Association (IPPA) and University of Illinois Extension. "Managing Pig
Production in Tough Times" is an online program that covers a number of key
decision areas for producers.

"Pork producers in the United States now face economic hardships so serious
that many will leave the business," said James Pettigrew, a U of I professor of
animal sciences who prepared the program with checkoff funding from the IPPA.
"At the U of I, we cannot change the very difficult conditions, but we can offer
information on this site to help producers manage their business."

At the website, users will
find seven presentations by experts on the respective topics. Among the
presenters and topics are: Chris Hurt, Purdue University Extension, price risk;
and from the University of Illinois, Rob Knox on reproduction, Larry Firkins on
health and employees, Mike Ellis on management, Ted Funk on engineering, Hans
Stein on nutrition, and Pettigrew on feeding programs. "Each of the seven
specialists will offer three recommendations carefully chosen to be helpful to
producers," Pettigrew explained.

Additionally, a special call-in program
has been scheduled to deal with questions. The program will be from 7 to 8 p.m.
on August 19. Those with questions may dial-in at 1-800-347-8268. The meeting's
identification number is 6455 and the password is 0819.

"If you'd like to
submit questions in advance of the meeting, you can click on the address of the
appropriate specialist on the website or, if you don't know who is most
appropriate, just e-mail me at jepettig@uiuc.edu ," he said.

Pettigrew said
the genesis of the meeting was a tour he took of Australia last winter and the
difficulties he found pork producers were facing in that country. "Sometimes you
see things at home more clearly when you get away, and this experience focused
my attention on how the university could help our own producers during these
tough times. I contacted the IPPA and they agreed to sponsor this program," he
said.

The program should prove of great assistance to producers,
according to one industry leader."We realize that these have been and continue
to be very rough times for pork producers dealing with escalating input costs,"
said Phil Borgic, a pork producer from Nokomis and current IPPA president.